Chapter 26

"How the hell does this help?!" I shrieked from my upside down position. The blood was quickly rushing to my head and a slight throb began to form near my temples. Jax held my feet from behind to keep my headstand steady as I continued to hold my position.

"We're pushing your body to its limits."

"We did that the first day!"

"This is different."

"How?!"

"This is an actual training technique. Shaolin monks would balance on their heads for hours to strengthen their necks for fighting. You've only been doing it for thirty minutes so stop whining."

I groaned as the throbbing became more intense and I felt my arms lower to try and help alleviate some of the pain.

"Keep your arms up!"

A grunt left my lips as I hoisted my arms back into their original position at my sides, "How long do I have to stay like this?"

"Three hours."

"Your joking right?!"

"You haven't improved enough to continue with what I have planned next, so quiet down and get comfortable because you're staying like this for another two and a half hours."

"You realize after all this Varia crap I'm going to kill you right?"

"If you're able to talk you should be able to hold this position for four hours instead of three."

That shut me up.

Another thirty minutes passed and my head was pulsating with all the blood that was rushing through it. It's been one hour and my vision began to blur as my head and neck began to burn, my teeth stayed clenched as to not bite my tongue and my arms were shaking by my sides.

Suddenly my whole body fell forward with a loud thump and I began coughing as the pressure on my neck disappeared and I was able to breathe normally again. I ignored the pain and shaking of my muscles as I heaved myself into a sitting position and glanced up at Jax.

"So much for keeping me steady." I grunted as I ran my hand around my throat and the back of my neck, in hopes to calm the tremor in my muscles.

"We have company." He said calmly as he stared down a man wearing an orange jumpsuit and a yellow helmet with a small flashlight that reminded me of what miners would wear when digging.

I forced myself to stand and watched as the stranger came closer, "Can I help you sir?"

"It's nice to meet you Raphaela, my name is Sawada Iemitsu."

"Sawada..." I mumbled before my eyes widened, "Oh! You must be Tsuna's dad!" I quickly bowed in respect and smiled at the man, "It's a pleasure to meet you sir."

An amused chuckle passed the mans lips before a concerned expression over took his face, "It appears the Varia have shown up early, they are currently after the holder of the Thunder ring." He stared me straight in the eyes with his arms crossed, "Tsuna needs your help."

My body tensed as the man relayed the information to me, there were hundreds of questions running through my head, like why are the Varia here so soon? Who has the Thunder ring? How does he know about the situation at hand? Are the others okay? How did he know where to find me? However out of all my questions, only one made it past my lips.

"Where?"

The man smiled.

Faster...faster...faster damn it!

I pushed myself as I ran in the direction the older Sawada pointed me in, I continued running down the road and smirked as I saw a familiar explosion ahead of me. I willed myself to go faster and as I almost reached my group of friends I heard a voice from above me.

"This is Leo, the others have been defeated. I will continue the mission." I looked up to see a man with a black cloak and a mask standing on the roof of the building beside me. He proceeded to pull a baton from behind his back and I narrowed my eyes as I saw the electricity begin to spark around the blunt weapon.

Not wanting to waste a dagger that I couldn't retrieve I crouched down to pick up a rock and aimed it at my target, with the same intensity I would use with my dagger, I threw the rock and smirked as it hit the man on the head and watched in pride as he fell off of the roof onto the other side of the building. After a minute of no rustling sounds I smiled and darted over to my friends; Tsuna, Takeshi, Gokudera, Ryohei, Fuuta, I-pin, and Lambo. Who thankfully were all safe.

"Geez why does that stupid cow have a ring?" Gokudera questioned, the annoyance clear in his voice.

"So Lambo has the ring? Can he even do that? He's five!" I asked the bomber who scoffed and shook his head in annoyance.

"You're telling me, he'll just get in the way!"

"It's alright now." Takeshi commented calmly as he looked over our group.

Tsuna smiled brightly, "E-everyone!"

We all grinned back at Tsuna and watched as Fuuta ran over to hug the brunette for comfort, "Are you alright?"

"I am, but..." Fuuta then turned to look at I-pin with a worried look, forcing us all to look down at the small Chinese girl.

"I-pin are you alright?" I asked softly and crouched down to get a better look at her. She seemed fine, but there was so much dirt caked on her face it was hard to tell what was grime and what were bruises.

"Did you fight?" Tsuna added worriedly.

I-pin began to shyly scratch her cheek, "A little."

I pulled down my sweater sleeve a bit to cover my palm and used it to gently wipe some of the dirt and dust off her face.

After a closer examination of her I smiled, "Nothing a nice bath wont fix, but you do have a small cut on your head."

"Wait one second." Takeshi stated and dug through his pocket until he found a band aid and knelt down beside me as he placed the band aid over the girls injury. "You did well for being so little."

"I can't understand it at all." Gokudera seethed as Takeshi and I stood up and followed him over to Tsuna and Lambo, "Why did this idiot get a ring?!"

The bomber was furiously pointing at the young cow printed boy, who was currently laying on the ground whining about wanting to be carried home.

"Come on, it's alright since we're all safe." Takeshi interjected smiling happily as ever.

"Yeah you all were a big help." Tsuna added with a sigh of relief, "I wasn't sure what was going to happen."

"They certainly were weaker than I imagined." Ryohei pipped up and gave a thumbs up, "It was a breeze."

"That's just naive. There are low ranks in the Varia, the really frightening one is..." Reborn stopped mid-sentence as an uncharacteristic gasp came from the small hitman as his head snapped to our right. "He's coming."

A man then jumped from the trees surrounding one side of the road and over looked the bodies of the unconscious men before turning his cold stare to us, "Did you do this?"

None of answered and the man took it as his cue to continue, "Who holds the Thunder Ring?" His eyes then narrowed as he glared down at Lambo, "Is it that curly-headed brat?"

Lambo stiffened in fear as he grasped Tsuna's pant leg for dear life, managing to make the ring in his hair glisten from the setting sun.

Tsuna threw his hands up and nervously tried to wave the statement off, "I-It's not! T-This is a misunderstanding!"

"If you get in the way, I'll kill you." He stated as he began grasping two of the eight handles to what my guess was his weapons that he wore on his back. The man wore the same dark trench coat as the beaten up men on the street, but he was different. He was taller and more muscled, he had long spiked up brown hair, a strange tattoo on the left side of his face, and three piercings on his left eyebrow with a chain that connected to the piercing on his lip.

Imagine if someone tugged on the chain...ouch.

"Hold on, Levi."

"You can't hunt them by yourself."

"Share the prey."

Voices called out and with in a single second more men jumped from the trees and stood next to 'Levi'. There were five of them not counting the one after Lambo. Starting from the left there was a somewhat cute blonde boy who wore the same coat as 'Levi' but left it unbuttoned and showed off a purple and black stripped shirt, his blonde hair completely hiding any trace of eyes on his face, and had a small silver tiara resting on his head.

The next was a small figure, like a Reborn look-a-like really, only he wore the same dark clothes as the others and a black mask/helmet that covered most of his face, leaving only his nose, mouth, and small purple marks on cheeks to be seen.

After him was a big guy, and I mean a big guy. He was freaking huge and had the matching dark clothes as his team mates, but unlike the others there was no skin anywhere to be seen. His hands were covered by gauntlets and his face by a metal looking mask that had some pipes coming out near the mouth for air.

Next was the most flamboyant man I have seen in all of my teenage years. He had the matching trench coat but his lined with thick reddish orange fur around the hood and sleeves. He also had his coat unbuttoned to reveal a white dress shirt and black tie, and wore dark sunglasses. But what really got me was his awkwardly styled bright green hair.

A little off to the side stood another male with short black shaggy hair with several pieces hanging in his face. His eyes seemed to be a hard brown color, however he wore an eye patch over his left eye. He wore the same cloak as everyone else and left it zipped all the way up, but you could tell he had on a black turtle neck underneath because instead of folding over the collar like a normal polo neck, he instead pulled it all the way up to his face until it was just under his nose, leaving his mouth to be unseen. For an added 'punk' look he had small chains overlapping the neck of his sweater and wore black fingerless gloves.

After that was someone we already had the displeasure of meeting with...Squalo.

"The situation has changed." The smallest enemy declared, "The other Guardians of the Rings are here."

I quickly glanced down at Reborn to see him looking at the small enemy with recognition, so is he like Reborn?

"S-So many?" Tsuna stuttered nervously as we all stared up at the enemies.

"Vio! How dare you trick me, you trash." Squalo smirked at us as Gokudera, Takeshi, and I glared at the man.

We may have held a small grudge...

"Which one of you has the rain ring?" The long haired man called down to us returning the glare. My heart froze for a second as I remembered who our Rain Guardian is.

Takeshi answered heatedly, "I do."

"So it's you?" The man smirked and drew his sword, "Three seconds. I'll cut you to pieces in three seconds."

Takeshi narrowed his eyes even more at the threat but didn't reply.

"Not Good! Not good!" Tsuna began panicking throwing his hands over his ears as if he could block out what was happening.

A hand grasped Squalo's shoulder and pushed him aside, "Out of the way."

"He's here." Reborn stated, indicating that this was the frightening one he mentioned. Meaning that this is most likely the leader of their group of misfits. "I never thought I'd see him again. Xanxus."

I stared up at the man and felt my whole body tense as he pierced us with a deadly glare. My whole body felt paralyzed as we watched the scene unfold.

Xanxus had the same coat as the rest with it unbuttoned leaving a white dress shirt and black tie to be seen just like his flamboyant friend, however instead of the thick layer of fur he instead had feathers around his neck and something that resembled a racoons tail hanging on the left side of his neck. He had tan skin and a face that was seriously born for the mafia.

He sent a heated glare directly at Tsuna, which caused the boy to topple over and almost cower at the man before us. I was going to help my friend but my body still refused to move and I couldn't take my stare off the terrifying man.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi." He seethed and lifted his clenched hand to reveal it glowing brightly.

"Boss are you going to use that so soon?" The flamboyant man asked as the group of man began backing away from his glowing hand. "Here?"

"Are you going to get us, too?!" Squalo interjected using his sword to shield his eyes as the glow got brighter.

"This is dangerous. Run!" Reborn ordered to our group.

That snapped me out of what ever trance I was in, you know something seriously bad is about to go down if Reborn wants you to run away. I grabbed Tsuna's arm and helped pull him to his feet as Xanxus yelled out one word to Tsuna.

"Die."

Before I could even react Tsuna jumped in front of me and braced himself for the impact which caused my eyes to go wide as I stared at my friend in shock.

The blow never came due to a pickaxe landing right in front of the attacker, throwing off his concentration and causing the deadly light to extinguish from his hand.

"Hold on, Xanxus." We all directed our eyes to see Iemitsu walk out from the tree line with Basil and another man in tow. "That's enough. I'll take charge from here."

"D-dad?!" Tsuna called out in surprise but as I watched the brunette his shoulders relaxed the slightest bit, knowing that the blow was being delayed. I slowly let out a small smile at the brunette before shaking my head and watched the scene.

"T-That's the tenths father?!" Gokudera cried out in surprise.

The Varia seemed to be annoyed at the mans arrival forcing Iemitsu to frown, "Xanxus, are your subordinates going to point their swords at the external adviser."

The two men had an intense stare down before Tsuna interrupted, "D-Dad, what are you talking about?"

"Iemitsu, don't stick your nose in so late!" Squalo growled out, "All you know how to do is run around, you coward!"

"What was that?!" Basil defended, pulling out his weapon.

"Hold on, Basil." Iemitsu replied not taking his eyes away from the Varia, "I wasn't running. I was waiting on a response from the ninth. I've been having issues with your conduct and the ninths approval of it. I sent a letter to the ninth with my doubts and questions, and this is his answer." He explained and held up a rolled up piece of paper that looked almost like a scroll. "This is a direct order from the ninth."

"I don't know what you're talking about at all." Tsuna stated in confusion, "Why do you know all of this?"

"Vongola's external adviser, that is his post within the Vongola. One who is Vongola, but also is not. Normally he is an outsider, but during emergencies he has the right to succeed the boss. In actuality, he is the number two." Reborn related the information calmly, as Tsuna gaped at what was happening around him.

"D-Dad's number two?!"

Reborn continued as if the brunette never interrupted his explanation, "The external adviser also has a part equal to the boss in deciding the successor. He has the right to give the Half Vongola Rings to whomever he chooses."

"Half of the rings?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Reborn didn't bother waiting for an answer as he launched himself into another explanation, "The eight different Vongola Rings are just shards by themselves. They become proof of the successor when each pair of pieces is combined to become a Vongola Ring."

"So that's why it's so oddly shaped." Tsuna reasoned as he held his ring in front of him to examine it.

"In other words, you must have both halves to be the successor. Though it's rare for the boss and external adviser to pick different candidates."

Basil walked over to Tsuna and handed him a rolled up paper that looked like the one Iemitsu was holding a few minutes ago, "This is the direct order from the ninth."

"Direct order?" Tsuna repeated as he opened the letter and flinched when he saw a small flame at the top of the page, "A Dying Will Flame?"

I glanced at the Varia to see Xanxus holding the same paper with a flame on it as well.

The smallest Varia member spoke up, "That is the ninths Dying Will Seal. There's no mistake, that is a true direct order."

"I can't read Italian! What does it say?" Tsuna asked frantically staring down at the letter.

His dad gave a small chuckle, "To translate and summarize, this is what it says: Until now I thought that Iemitsu's son, Sawada Tsunayoshi was a worthy successor and acted as such. However, perhaps because I am close to death, by intuition I changed course and chose a new successor. My son Xanxus. He is truly worthy to become the tenth. However, there will be those who are unhappy with this change. That is why Iemitsu fought against handing the rings to Xanxus. However I do not wish for my family to fight amongst itself for no reason. Thus we will begin the decisive battle to decide who will be the official successor, through a method we can all agree on."

I silently raised a brow at the Varia leader, is he really the ninths son? From what I heard about the ninth, their personalities obviously clash...but then again I guess that isn't too far fetched for some father and son relationships. Plus he is in the mafia, that no doubt must have hardened him.

Iemitsu took a small breath while his face grew even more serious, "This is what it means. Vongola successor, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Also a successor candidate, Xanxus! The Vongola Rings that you both require to become the true successor...to decide who has the right to these, we will begin the decisive battle between Tsuna's family and the Varia!"

"Battle..." I mumbled to myself I stared at each of the Varia members, why does something feel off about this?

"A one-on-one battle between those who hold the same type of ring!" Iemitsu directed, "After that it says to wait for directions."

"Directions?" Gokudera repeated as we all tried to wrap our heads around this.

However all thoughts of sanity pretty much went out the window when two female figures jumped from behind the tree line. They landed gracefully on their feet as I examined them. Honestly they looked like twins, they are the same height, same skin tone, same long purple hair with bangs, same black and white mask covering their eyes, and also both have whistles around their necks. The only difference between the two females are their clothing. One was wearing black flats, black pants, a white ruffled shirt with a small black jacket. While the other one wore black boots, red stockings, a short white dress, with a similar black jacket.

"I swear if any more crazies jump from those trees, I'm coming back here tomorrow with a chain saw." I muttered as I ran a hand through my hair, noticing Ryohei nodding in agreement next to me.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Both girls spoke at the same time, "During this Ring Conflict, we will be the judges."

Tsuna looked at the girls nervously, "Who are they?"

The girl in the dress spoke up first, "We are the Cervello Organization, who serve directly under the ninth."

"During the Ring Conflict, our decisions are that of the ninths. The ninth believes that this measure will please all members of the family." The one in the pants finished, holding out their own letter with a flame at the top.

So the ninth really did send them...

They both then turned to the Varia, "Any objections, Xanxus-sama?"

They were met with nothing but his stone solid glare which they took as a no and continued, "Thank you very much."

Favoritism already...

"I have an objection." Iemitsu called out making the two girls turn to face him, "Even I, the external adviser, have never heard of the Cervello Organization. How can I allow you to judge when the future of the Vongola Family is at stake?"

"We can not recognize your objection. We serve the ninth and can not be commanded by the likes of you."

That did not please Tsuna's poor dad...

However the two girls continued, "Normally, one set of the Half Vongola Rings are held by the boss, and the other by the external adviser. Then during the announcement of the successor, a completed ring is given to the chosen eight. However this time has become an exception. The sets of eight chosen by the two of them do not match, and each handed out the Half Rings to whomever they chose."

Didn't Reborn already explain all of this?

"Meaning the eight led by Xanxus, chosen by the ninth; and the eight led by Tsunayoshi, chosen by the external adviser Iemitsu."

Never would have guessed...

"Now we'll prove which is more worthy of the Rings by having you bet your lives on them. The location will be Namimori Middle School, late at night, we will explain the details there. We will be waiting for you at eleven o'clock tomorrow evening. Farewell." They finished before jumping back into the trees and disappearing through the forest line, with the Varia following right after them.

Things just got a little more complicated...

After I relayed all of the information to Jax he decided it was now crunch time in my training. It was to be non-stop, no school or social life until my battle was over...assuming I live of course. I didn't even make it home until two in the morning, where I proceeded to fall onto my bed and not move until you could practically see the repeated letter 'z' above my head.

When I awoke I explained to my dad about missing a couple days of school, he wasn't too thrilled but didn't argue. After a brief look at the clock I dashed upstairs to change into a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt and headed out to greet my group of friends before we parted ways for the day. No doubt Tsuna is probably freaking out from nerves, the others might not be as bad, hell they might even be excited for this.

As for me...

I spotted the three boys I was looking for and walked up to them just as Gokudera had finished saying, "We're going to win. Leave it to me tenth!"

"No doubt about that, let's show them just who they're messing with." I added determinedly, flashing a bright smile at our boss, who gawked at the three of us before staring down at his hand.

My bright smile dimmed into a softer one as I watched the boy, he must have been more nervous than panicked, but it seems being around his friends is giving him more reassurance. He really is growing...

"Hey Gokudera what's with the box?" Takeshi asked making us all turn to the bomber in interest.

Takeshi was about the open it but Gokudera tugged it away from him, only adding to Takeshi's curioustity. Which resulted in the two fumbling over the box for a couple minutes until Takeshi managed to sneak his hand into the box and extract what was inside.

"Paper planes?" The baseball ace questioned gesturing to the folded plane in his hand.

Tsuna and I looked at the now open box to see that it was full of planes, someone apparently couldn't sleep last night...

"What are you going to do with all of these paper planes?" Tsuna asked as we all looked at the bomber.

I smiled and shook my head remembering the day I had helped him fold some planes, "Still working on that move?"

"I almost have it down! I'm actually on my way to the mountains."

I nodded, "I'm on my way to the forest."

"You're not coming to school Mira-Chan?" Takeshi frowned slightly as I shook my head.

"I'm under strict orders not to go until my fight is over, in fact I wasn't even supposed to see you guys today."

Tsuna began to frown, "Why not?"

"Well..." I smiled shyly and rubbed the back of my neck, "I guess you could say I'm in crunch time for my training, Jax doesn't want any distractions."

"Then why'd you come?" Gokudera added, swiping his plane from Takeshi's hand and threw it in his box.

"Cause I can't go a day with out your beautiful smile Dera-kins!" I joked and pinched his cheek causing him to silently fume as the others laughed. "Seriously though, I just wanted to see you guys, yesterday was pretty intense so I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page."

"What do you mean 'same page' Mira-Chan?" Tsuna asked raising his brow in curiosity.

I smirked, "That there's no reason to worry, as long as we're together we'll win."

The three boys smiled and agreed until Gokudera's expression turned serious, "But what is the guy with the mist ring doing? Not showing up at a time like this..."

"I wonder what kind of person he is?" Takeshi added smiling.

I interjected as I poked his side, "Or she."

"I can only pray that it's a better person than the cow."

"I-indeed." Tsuna agreed.

"Hibari wasn't there either." The baseball captain continued putting one hand on his hips and threw his other arm over my shoulders.

Tsuna noded, "He should be training with Dino-san, though."

"Speaking of which," I frowned as I glanced at the three, "how will Hibari react when he hears that the fights will be held at Namimori?"

We were all silent for a moment and then simultaneously shivered at the thought. I foresee a lot of pain in someones future...